Grace Under Fire
by zweihaender
Summary: SLASH -- In the days following the destruction of the Sword of Akasha, Suzaku and Lelouch get a little too carried away playing with their Knightmare Frames.


Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the Code Geass franchise, I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit of fun.

Notes: This is set in that one month timeskip in R2 episode 21, so expect spoilers from that point until episode 25. At the start of this fic, let's assume Suzaku and C.C. only have a vague idea about the details of the Zero Requiem.

And um. I tried to follow the cadences of translated Japanese for the dialogue. Please pardon me if it falls flat as my only experience with the subject is years of watching subtitled anime, and we all know that doesn't teach you jack.

.. .. .. ..

"Come on," Suzaku implored, leaning forward on the table. "Just this once."

"I already told you," Lelouch said, pausing to scratch the side of his head irritably with a fountain pen, "you caught me at the wrong time. I still have legislations to draft, communications to dispatch, conferences to arrange—"

"Think of this," Suzaku interrupted, "as a, a…" He fumbled, grasping for the right word.

"A mental vacation?" C.C. ventured from her spot on the carpet.

Suzaku beamed. "Yes! A vacation. You," he pointed at Lelouch, "have been holed up in here for too long."

Lelouch didn't even look up from the sheafs of papers piled around him. "It's an unnecessary interruption, and I'd rather not deviate from the schedule I've set for the day." He signed a document then pulled another from a nearby stack. "Standing there all day won't change my mind, either," he continued, when Suzaku still did not leave. "I suggest you take C.C. with you and run through your drills with her instead. Heaven knows she needs the exercise more than I do."

C.C. tipped her head to one side and blinked, a string of mozzarella trailing from her mouth.

"Not that I doubt her abilities," Suzaku said with an apprehensive glance at C.C., "but frankly speaking, she can't pilot Shinkirou the way you do—"

"More importantly," C.C. said, rolling to face the muffled television, "shouldn't you be practicing battlefield tactics with your knight?"

Lelouch's pen stilled. "What?"

She toyed with her food. "And, if I remember correctly, it's also traditional for Britannian nobles to challenge their designated knights to single combat, as a measure of each other's skills." She sat up and smiled, cat-like. "Why don't you use this opportunity to fulfill your family's generations-old practice?"

Suzaku straightened up. "Can't you do something about my title, though? 'Knight of Zero' sounds like a bad joke."

"It suits my purposes well enough." Lelouch turned back to C.C., leaning on his interlaced fingers. "I already know Suzaku's strengths and weaknesses, as he knows mine," he answered curtly. "I wouldn't have made him my knight otherwise."

"Charles fenced with Bismarck, while Cornelia dueled Lord Guilford in borrowed Glasgows." C.C. continued to munch away at her pizza, oblivious to Lelouch's rising irritation. "I'm sure Euphemia would have done the same with Suzaku," here Suzaku affected a deep fascination for the wallpaper, "if she hadn't been too caught up with her duties as Japan's Sub-Viceroy."

"You misunderstand me," Lelouch said, his tone hardening. "I have no time to be playing around—"

"Is that so?" C.C.'s smirk turned razor-sharp. "Because it looks to me like you're running away—"

Suzaku flinched as Lelouch suddenly slammed his hands on the desk and bolted upright, knocking off his ceremonial cap and a fair amount of things to the floor.

"C.C.," Lelouch said, sounding constricted, "fetch me Shinkirou's ignition." The papers under his splayed hands crumpled slightly. "It should still be inside the coat I wore yesterday."

Rising to her full height, C.C. dipped her knees in a mock curtsy, and sauntered out of the office.

As the door automatically slid shut behind her, Lelouch raised his head, violet eyes smoldering. "Why _do_ you want to train with me all of a sudden?"

Suzaku held his gaze stubbornly. "Actually, Lloyd and Cécile just finished installing the final security countermeasures on the Lancelot Albion." He tugged at the collar of his new suit. "I've already tried a few moves in it earlier, but they want to see how well it holds up against your Shinkirou."

"In other words, they want to pitch the perfect offense against the perfect defense?" Lelouch sighed, and began tidying up the things he had scattered. "I should have expected this sooner. Go ahead and tell Earl Lloyd to get the Shinkirou ready. I'll meet you in the hangar."

Suzaku bowed in acknowledgment. As he headed out the door he distinctly heard Lelouch mutter, "Damn that accursed witch, comparing me to Cornelia and the others…" and couldn't help cracking a smile.

.. .. .. ..

"Again."

Despite his fatigue, Suzaku found himself mechanically reactivating the Lancelot Albion's systems. "But we've been at this for three hours straight."

"He's right." Cécile's cool voice floated in over the shared channel. "It's about time you both took a break."

In his visual panel, Lelouch's jaw was set. "Not yet. We'll go for another three hours until _he_ gets this right."

Suzaku narrowed his eyes. "Gets _what_ right?" he asked threateningly.

"Your execution is too vulnerable to attack." Lelouch crossed his legs, unimpressed. "If an enemy saw those openings in actual combat—"

"That's the point, isn't it?" Energy Wings flared into life behind the Lancelot Albion. "Even if they see the openings, they can't catch up to me."

Lelouch's derisive laughter grated in his ear. "Did you forget that the Guren underwent the same modifications as your beloved Lancelot?"

"But I'm fighting _you_ right now, aren't I?" Suzaku bared his teeth in a humorless grin. "Obviously I'd employ a different tactic against an opponent whose idea of fighting is just hiding behind his shields—"

The tessellate of glowing hexagons suddenly winked out of existence as Lelouch fired his wrist-mounted Hadron Blasters. Suzaku easily spun out of their range. "You insult me, Lelouch," he said, diving into the other pilot's airspace in a mid-air blur of green, one Maser Vibration Sword poised to strike. "Did you think you could catch me off guard so easily?"

Once more the walls of the Absolute Defense Territory blossomed between him and the Shinkirou, which parried the attack then dodged with surprising speed. "If I had known that this was all it took to get you to fight me seriously," Lelouch said, leaning casually on one hand, "I would have done this from the start."

"Hey, hey~" Lloyd interrupted, his face sporting a rather strained smile on the hangar's feed, "there's no need to get so worked up, you two!"

"There is a need," Suzaku answered, glaring at the Shinkirou as he tried to land kicks and blows directly on its armor, to no avail, "to teach this bastard a lesson in humility."

Lelouch stared him down with equal ferocity. "I refuse to be taught a lesson in humility by someone who talks big but could barely stay alive back in the Tokyo Settlement."

"That's only because Kallen had the mechanical advantage!" Suzaku feinted to the right, shot one Slash Harken at the starboard of Lelouch's Knightmare Frame, then the other towards the port side. Both anchors glanced off the energy shields as expected, but in that millisecond distraction, Suzaku drove his sword a second time right into the Shinkirou's chest. Quickly Lelouch redirected the shields to protect his front, but the tip penetrated within an inch of his Core Luminous just as the Absolute Defense Field closed in.

"S-Suzaku…" Lelouch was straining under the press of the white Knightmare Frame, but still managed to trigger a sublevel shield that repelled the Lancelot Albion with such force that Suzaku nearly lost his sword. He sounded tired over the whine of the Prism Diffusion Cannon. "This isn't the time for this."

The Maser Vibration Sword sparked erratically, but Suzaku was too busy evading the onslaught of refracted laser beams to notice.

Back in the hangar's control room, however, the two military scientists did.

"Huh?" Lloyd adjusted his glasses. "What was that?"

Cécile was already typing the data into the computer. "I'm not sure, but…" The computer beeped, completing its calculations just as Lloyd came over to look. Suddenly Cécile let out a gasp of horror. Lloyd nearly tripped over his entangled legs as he ran back to the screen showing the live feed of the fight, his shouts and pleas going unheeded by the two pilots.

Above the training field, Suzaku fired back with his VARIS rifle, but Lelouch immediately reactivated the shields over his Prism Diffusion Cannon. "You already gave me permission, didn't you?" Suzaku yelled as he supplemented his barrage with energy bolts.

Lelouch's face, red in the light of the Absolute Protection Field, contorted with rage. "You're preempting the plan!"

"To hell with your plans, I've waited long enough!" Suzaku flew around the Shinkirou, scanning for a chink in the barrier. One Factsphere zoomed in on a single hexagonal plate that suddenly vanished, the space just wide enough for Lelouch to return fire. Lunging straight into the hole, his own Blaze Luminous forcing a path through the cannon blasts, Suzaku swung his sword down for the kill as Lelouch tried to rebuild the gap too late.

Then everything stopped.

"All riiiight~!" Lloyd sang out as both pilots lurched at the abrupt change in inertia. "Your practice session ends here!"

Suzaku cursed, punching the side of his darkened cockpit.

"Suzaku," Cécile said with a kindly smile, "if you tried to break through the Absolute Defense Territory again, it would have destroyed your experimental MVS."

"And since neither of you were listening when I told you to stop, I had no choice but to cut the power to both your Knightmare Frames! Really now," Lloyd added, waving a reproachful finger from his visual panel while Suzaku jerked his control yokes in vain, "do either of you have any idea how long it would take to repair _that_ level of damage on a Maser Vibration Sword?"

"I think Rakshata configured the inner layers to have a higher repulsion charge than the outer ones," Lelouch volunteered, breaking his stony silence. "That could potentially create a massive short circuit."

Lloyd looked reluctantly impressed. "To think she would do something like that…"

"We've restricted the power output of your Yggdrasil Drives to twelve percent each." Cécile disengaged the Shinkirou's and Lancelot Albion's flight systems and opened the hangar. "It's enough to maintain communication and to keep you from crashing on the turf, but you're effectively immobilized. For the time being, please keep to your seats until your units touch down."

Neither pilot said a word as their limp Knightmare Frames sank to the ground.

.. .. .. ..

"Your Majesty." Suzaku supposed he was lucky enough that Lelouch at least stopped walking. He scanned the hallway to ensure their privacy before dropping to one knee. "I apologize for my actions against your royal person during the battle simulation," he intoned, head bowed. "If we had been out in the field—"

"No." Lelouch turned, his shoulders stiff under his starched livery. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have said those things earlier, either. It was selfish of me."

Suzaku stood up. "Selfish?"

Lelouch wrapped his arms timidly around himself, much to Suzaku's inner amusement. "I guess I was trying to get back at you for interrupting my work. I was surprised, though," he added with a wry smile. "I didn't expect you to still be as easy to provoke as ever."

Suzaku had to chuckle at that. "And after all these years, you can still read me like a book."

Gently Lelouch reached out and held Suzaku's face. "What is a lord, if he does not know his knight?"

"Lelouch," Suzaku began, his pulse roaring in his ears, "I—"

"Enough." Lelouch pulled him closer, until their foreheads were touching. "Suzaku," he whispered, breath warmer than a kiss, "I forgive you." He closed his eyes, tightening his grip in Suzaku's hair. "For everything."

"And I—" Suzaku's voice caught in his throat as he grasped Lelouch's wrists with shaking hands. "I forgive you as well," he whispered back, choked by the rush of emotions Lelouch's words unlocked inside him, the absolution sweeping away every burden he'd been forced to shoulder all his life.

After a moment of eternity, where nothing but the two of them existed, slowly, reluctantly, they moved apart.

Lelouch cleared his throat, looking everywhere but at Suzaku. "I hope today's run was enough for Lloyd and Cécile." His cheeks were still flushed pink as he walked away. "If they want another session, tell them to inform me in advance so I can rearrange my schedule."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lelouch waved off his salute, and Suzaku watched him until his footsteps faded into silence. He didn't realize he had been grinning openly until he heard someone snicker behind him. "You two certainly have an interesting effect on each other," she said as she slid into view from behind a pillar.

"C.C.!" Suzaku exclaimed. "Since when—?"

"I've been watching the simulation from the start." Her green hair stood out stark against the dim corridor. "After all, it's not often that that boy can be bothered to engage in any physical training."

Something about C.C.'s presence nagged at Suzaku. "Ah, that's right," he said, remembering, "thanks for helping me out earlier. Lelouch would never have agreed in the first place if you hadn't intervened."

C.C. cocked her head. "Me? I didn't do anything. Honestly, the two of you always seem to forget how important you are to each other."

"I doubt that. He's never seen anybody as worth more than a tool for his plans."

"On the contrary, I think he values you much more than that."

"As a knight rather than a pawn?" Suzaku glanced at her sidelong. "What's so great about that?"

C.C. snickered again. "Indeed, Lelouch is the sort of person who keeps his own counsel, but even without words _you_ can understand what he's really thinking."

Suzaku was taken aback. "That's—"

"—the truth," C.C. interrupted smoothly, "whether you accept it or not."

Suddenly Suzaku understood why he refused to accept Lelouch's cryptic declaration inside the World of C.

"… I see," he murmured to himself, "so that's how it is." He looked at C.C. as though noticing her there for the first time. "C.C.," he said in a louder voice, "could you pass on the message to Lloyd for me?" He started running in the direction of Lelouch.

"W-wait, what message?!"

Suzaku waved back, not really hearing what she said. "I'm counting on you!" he shouted before finally sprinting off.

C.C. clicked her tongue. "Honestly, going so far as to give me all this trouble…" she muttered, one hand on her hip as she walked back to the hangar. "Just who do those two think they are?"

_Lelouch,_ Suzaku thought while he ran past hall after hall, _if this is what you were planning all along, then I will… I will…!_

Something white flashed at the edge of his vision just as he entered the throne room. He stopped.

Lelouch stood with his back to Suzaku, oddly naked before the seat of the father he'd so recently killed. "Lelouch," Suzaku called out, the staccato of his boots echoing against the bare marble walls, "the plan you were talking about, did you mean…?"

In the shadows the lost prince of Britannia turned to face him, a dull shade of the man he once was. "Yeah," he replied. There was something black and heavy in his hands. "Suzaku, you shall kill me, as promised."

.. .. .. ..

And the rest of that conversation would be the heart-wrenching flashback from Turn 25.

I twisted the canon just a little bit in a couple of places. First, the name of the Shinkirou's primary offensive weapon is not the Prism Diffusion Cannon; it's really the Diffusion Structure Phase Transition Cannon (according to Wikipedia, which I based most of the minor details off). The original name looked a bit unwieldy in the prose, so I shortened it. Secondly, and this one's a bit of a biggie, I'm not really sure if the Royal Britannian Family do challenge their Knights every time they get one. It was a cheap plot device I invented on the spot. There's probably a Code Geass picture drama or CD drama out there that disproves this, but more importantly I hope nobody minds. :D


End file.
